Presented on Wednesday, July 22 online as part of the 2020 Park Church Summer Lecture Series.
As scholars we were and are still being trained and taught to focus our work and research inside of ourselves for dissemination among like-minded colleagues. Essentially, we are experts talking to experts, sharing ideas and discoveries...but we are also teachers. Why should we even consider rethinking "how we do business"? This lecture explores four key relevant areas that we who study Mark Twain Studies must rethink, reimagine, and, yes, learn anew how to teach and share the texts - primary/secondary and the personal narratives - if Mark Twain Studies are to survive within this century: Generation Z, DisruptTexts, Virtual Learning and Using Primary/Secondary Resources, and Relevance to Us. The very survival of Mark Twain Studies within the elementary-high school classrooms throughout this country - the United States of America - stands on a precarious and fracturing precipice. We no longer can afford to stand aloof, observing and commenting solely in articles. Our audience who must read the articles are classroom teachers. And we, too, must transitionally extend the conversation well beyond the article-page to conversations where we listen to teachers and students, exploring, discovering, and learning with them.
Jocelyn A. Chadwick is a life-long English teacher and international scholar. Formerly, a full-time professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education, she now lectures occasionally and conducts seminars there. She has published numerous articles and books with one in progress, Writing for Life: Using Literature to Teach Writing. She was invited to the White House as panel member for the series, Celebrating America's Authors. Current projects include PBS American Masters, PBS The Great American Read, a new book series for the Folger Shakespeare Library, recurring blogs for Larry Ferlazzo in Education Week, consultant for the Center for Mark Twain Studies, and Pearson/Savvas, Expert Advice Contributor for NBC TODAY Parenting Team.